Olivia
By CaptainWithAPickle
CHAPTER THREE
14th September 2012, 9pm
Olivia stands on the doorstep of a mother who she believes is abusing her 9 year old daughter. The night is cold and the wind nips at her neck, blowing her brown curls behind her. She knocks on the door, which opens to reveal the mother standing in her robe, cigarette in one hand and blood shot eyes. The smell of booze reeks off the woman and finds itself settling in Olivia's nose.
Then the scared little girl standing at the bottom of the stairs catches Olivia's eye. The look in little Sophia's eyes is one of fear and acceptance, this is her life and it's never going to change. The girl looks from her mother to Olivia trying to understand the situation, and whether or not its one she can control.
Olivia stands in the doorway and crouches to see the girl better, and what she finds is something she wishes she could change. The girl's soul is long gone; it's replaced by the will and fight to carry on, the only other place she has seen this is in her own eyes when she stares in the mirror. They're survivors, both of them. This look frightens her and takes her back to that day when that officer walked away.
18th July 1977, 8pm
By the time Olivia was 8 years old she had learnt nearly all of the places her mother would hide her alcohol. She had started pouring it down the toilet when her mother wasn't looking, only to find the consequence of being caught much greater than the punishments she sustained while her mother was under the influence. That night of the 18th of July 1977, Serena almost killed her daughter. It also changed they way Olivia looked at the woman blindly raising her, she no longer saw the broken woman she believed her mother to be, instead she saw a woman filled with rage and violence towards the only person who truly loved her.
The flush of the toilet echoes around the quite apartment, Olivia listens out for any movement from her mother as she drops the empty vodka bottle on the bathroom tiles. Her fingers close around the neck of the half empty bourbon bottle; she brings the bottle to her nose and sniffs. She can feel its scent burning the inside of her nose and all the way down her throat. She wonders how her mother can stand this stuff. As Olivia starts to pour the auburn liquid down the toilet, the bathroom door swings wide open.
Her mother is in a drunken daze, and Olivia realises she forgot to lock the door. The only sound heard throughout the house is the constant slosh of the bourbon hitting the toilet water. Olivia's eyes narrow as she tries to anticipate her mother's reaction. She has no where to go as she is trapped between the bathroom door, her mother and the toilet.
Serena looks down on her 8 year old daughter with a haze covered stare. The empty bottle of vodka on the tiles, the bottle of bourbon in her daughter's hand, the flush of the toilet around 5 minutes earlier. She finally pieces it all together. Why she has been running out of booze so quickly, why Olivia is always found coming out of the bathroom when she wakes up in the afternoon. The haze in her eyes clears and all she sees before a sheet of red covers her eyes, is the fear written all over Olivia's face.
In a split second the white tiled bathroom is covered in blood, Olivia crying as her mother rips her t-shirt from her body. She removes Olivia's belt and holds it steadily in her hand as her daughter cowers in the corner of the bathroom.
"Don't scream, don't move." Serena recites the same words her rapist used with her to keep her vulnerable and scared. She smoothes Olivia's palms against the white porcelain bath tub, and takes a few steps back. Serena raises her right hand above her head and in one swift motion brings the belt down on Olivia's bare back. The sound of a whip cracking splits the air and is only covered by Olivia's screams as she is beaten by her mother.
The multiple whipping sounds radiate out of the open bathroom window and into the living room of the neighbours next door; concerned for the child's safety they phone the police. Once Olivia's back is ripped raw from the belt, Serena turns her over. Staring into the eyes of her child she removes the stilettos she feel asleep in; and brings one down hard onto Olivia's ribcage. On the third hit the crack of Olivia's ribs echoes throughout the bathroom, and her piercing scream stretches out to anything or anyone within ear shot.
